As you trip down the interesting highways and byways of the Romanian language, you come across some words that bisect in unusual ways with English and other languages. An excellent example of this is the Romanian word coajă (kwah-zha), which refers to the “skin” of any plant. In English, this “skin” on a fruit is usually called the “peel” while for trees it is usually … Continue reading Words of the Day: Coaja – Piele
You know, a lot of the times my Word of the Day series focuses on either obscure or unusual or linguistically interesting words and I realize this may not be of much use to the person who is just beginning to learn Romanian. If this is you, today you are lucky because the word zebra (zeh-bruh) is not only easy to pronounce but also easy … Continue reading Word of the Day: Zebra
This past weekend I was in Sibiu for their medieval festival and I got to hear a word that was new to me and not yet part of my vocabulary. The cool thing about this word is that one of a rare triplet of synonyms in modern Romanian. As I’ve detailed before, there are lots of Romanian synonyms in which one word comes from a … Continue reading Word of the Day: Norod – Neam – Popor
Today I was idly browsing through what has to be my all-time favorite gossip rag, Stiri De Cluj (Cluj News), where every minor occurrence is a scandalous, breathtaking event, when I came across this fine, fine piece of journalism, wherein an anonymous spokesperson of the Youth Wing of the PNL party lashes out at the Lord of Cluj, Sorin Apostu: Sorin Apostu, in loc sa … Continue reading Word of the Day: Iobag
Coming directly from the Hungarian (and pronounced virtually the same), the word musai (moo-sigh) in Romanian is identical in meaning with the Latin-based word neapărat. Because of its Hungarian origins, musai is generally only used in certain parts of the country, especially the parts with a greater Hungarian influence. Neapărat! AND NOW YOU KNOW! Continue reading Word of the Day: Musai
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